RWAMAGANA - There was drama at Kigabiro First Instance Court when a woman asked the court to drop the divorce case the husband had filed, claiming they had since reconciled. Ernest Nizeyimana, had sought to end his marriage with Annonciata Mukandutiye, whom he accused of violence. The couple has seven children. But the woman told court last Friday that she loved her husband so much. “I have had enough with this woman; she insults me in public and has at several occasions tried to kill me. She raised a hoe to hit my head, and I narrowly survived. This is when local leaders advised me to dessert my home temporarily,” Nizeyimana, told the court. When the woman was asked to explain why she wanted to kill the husband, she denied any bad intentions. “I was driven by anger, because she had refused to care for the family. Even though we have spent five years in a poor relationship, I still love my husband and do not want to divorce,” she told court, amidst murmurs from the audience. According to neighbours, the couple’s feuds have been going on for some time now, even the couples church (ADPR), tried to settle their differences in vain. “These are people whose relationship has been deteriorating day and night. They live separately in different houses, they have complex misunderstandings. They do not agree on family planning, but instead the woman blames the husband when he tells her to stop producing,” the family’s neighbour identified only as Gahutu said. However, another source said the centre of the wrangles revolves around two issues; children and sharing property after divorce. During the hearing, Niyonzima denied fathering their seventh child. “I don’t mind being the custodian of my children [in case of divorce]. But I will do this well knowing that the seventh is not mine at all. She produced the child when we had separated long time ago,” he said. The issue of property was raised by the woman, who said the man has concealed some of the family assets he owned before marriage. Yet it understood that at marriage a couple vows to jointly own whatever they owned before marriage. “I have evidence that Ernest has some other assets he has not revealed. I want a share of them, if we divorce,” said Mukandutiye. Ends
